When it comes to puzzle game franchises that have come to dominate a specific style, I’d say that Picross is one of the most successful, taking the nonogram, giving it a catchier name, and then perfecting its digital presentation. That said, even with all of the varieties Jupiter has put out themselves over the past generation, there are sometimes newcomers that arrive in the eShop with their own ideas that can sometimes work nicely. Squeakross: Home Squeak Home is the latest such title, and while it doesn’t really do anything to revolutionize how things are done, it still manages to get the fundamentals right and then offer something a little different as well. 

Starting with the core experience itself, at this point there only seems to be room to do things wrong, as in terms of presentation I’d say everyone has locked in to the same general style, even if aesthetics may vary. You’ll have the numbers for the rows and columns, you’ll be able to fill in or mark spaces, and it’s always nice when the game will highlight the number clues in different ways to help guide you in limited ways to know which rows you should focus on and which can be completed. You won’t be penalized if you get something wrong, but it will visually clue you in to mistakes, which probably makes it a generally friendlier take on tracking how you’re doing in any given puzzle.

That more friendly nature I’d say also plays into the other focus of the game, which is first focused on building your mousey avatar, and then letting you outfit them and build out the interior of their little house with the accumulated items you complete puzzles for. While that really does nothing to enhance the puzzle experience, it’s still a nice way to make the game feel a little more cozy, and to help differentiate it a little bit from the competition. While it doesn’t have the breadth of puzzle types others do, and won’t allow you to share the puzzle-solving experience with friends, it does at least have all of the elements to make for some pleasant hours of puzzling.